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Pizarro | Official Number
1569 |
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Pizarro | Official Number
1569 |
The Pizarro was a ship built at Whitehaven by Lumley
Kennedy & Co. She was launched on the 23rd May 1853 for John Bibby
& Sons of Liverpool, the last new sailing vessel bought by this famous
shipping company. Reportedly she cost £7,950, and her first voyage
was to Valparaiso, Chile, returning from Iquique to Liverpool.
The Cumberland Pacquet and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser, Tuesday,
24th May 1853;
" THE SHIP LAUNCH YESTERDAY - A very fine new clipper ship
was launched yesterday forenoon from the yard of Messrs.Kennedy and Co.,
at this port. the tide was at its height about ten o'clock, and the extreme
fineness of the weather encouraged vast multitudes, including a great number
of ladies, to yield to the attraction of the occasion, and witness the
imposing sight. About 11 o'clock, the signal was given, and the remaining
support was knocked away, and amid the hearty cheers of five thousand voices,
the noble vessel glided smoothly and gracefully into the element on which
we trust she may achieve an eminent success. As she glided from the stocks
she was named the Pizarro by the youngest daughter of Mr.Kennedy,
with the usual time-honoured ceremmonial. She has been built for the Messrs.Bibby
and Co., of Liverpool, for the west coast trade, and will be commanded
by Captain Sprott. She measures 463 tons register, and will class 13 years
at Lloyd's. She carries for a figure-head a bust of Pizarro, by Mr.Brooker,
of Maryport, and has an elaborately carved stem, by Mr.Askew, of this town."
The Pizarro was sold by Bibbys in 1857, to Myers & Co., also
of Liverpool, and continued in the trade to South America. In 1870 she
was sold to J.Robinson & Co., of Sunderland.
The Pizarro made her last voyage under the command of Capt.G.Matthews, of Amble, departing the Tyne in March 1872. She visited Alexandria, then Smyrna, then Boston (USA). She left Boston with a cargo of Indian corn (maize) on the 6th December 1872, bound for Liverpool. She was never seen again, and was considered to have been overwhelmed by the gales of December and January. She had 13 crew all told, and was owned at the time of her loss by John Robertson, jun., of Blyth.
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